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Boston College continues to be among the nation’s top producers of student Fulbright winners, according to a recent report by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
BC, which saw 19 graduating seniors earn prestigious Fulbright grants for the 2013-14 academic year placed 12th in the ranking of US research institutions; three other seniors were awarded Fulbrights but opted to pursue other opportunities.
Harvard was first with 39 Fulbright recipients, followed by University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (32), Arizona State (28), Princeton and Rutgers (26 apiece), Northwestern (22), Columbia and Yale (21 apiece), and Cornell and University of Chicago (20 apiece). Other research institutions in the rankings included California-Berkeley (18), Duke, Ohio State, Stanford and Penn (16 apiece) and Maryland-College Park (15), North Carolina-Chapel Hill (14) and Georgetown (13).
With a yearly average of 15-20 Fulbright winners, BC has consistently placed in the top 20 of Fulbright leaders during the past decade, according to University Fellowships Committee members.
“We have continued to strengthen our outreach to encourage students to consider applying for Fulbrights, as well as the resources to give them the best chance of succeeding,” said Adjunct Associate Professor of Political Science Paul Christensen, who coordinates BC’s Fulbright program. “Having the Fellowships Committee’s associate director, Jason Cavallari, located in Stokes Hall helps to give our efforts — for Fulbrights and other fellowships — more visibility. We’re also fortunate to have a great set of advisors, and are looking to add at least one more.
“And we are grateful for the continued support of faculty who do interviews with students and assist them in developing their projects in preparation for applying for Fulbrights.”
Christensen said the BC Fulbright program will seek to solidify its contacts throughout the departments, especially those that have been less represented among BC’s Fulbright applicants. “There is increasing effort at Fulbright to draw in students with a background and interest in STEM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics], so that is certainly an area in which we want to be active.”
For more information on the University Fellowships Committee, and BC’s programs for Fulbrights and other fellowships, see www.bc.edu/fellowships.